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THE 



HIGHER TEACHINGS 



OF 



SPIRITUALISM, 



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" Alas for him who never sees 

The stars a-shining through his cypress trees! 

Who, hopeless lays his dead away, 

Nor looks to see the breaking day! 

Who hath not learned in hours of faith, 

That life is ever lord of death, 

And love can never loSe its own." 



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" The Coming Age" Publishing Office, and 
Eaton & Lyon, Publishers and Booksellers, 
Grand Rapids, Mich. 



THE 



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As given by Rev. Theodore Parker, Rev. William E. 
Channing, Rev. Thomas Starr King, Rabbi Joseph 
Lowenthal, Cardinal Cheverus, Sir Humphrey Davy, 
Thomas Paine, Prof. Robert Hare, and other eminent 
Spirits, mostly at the "Banner of Light" Circle Rooms, 
Boston, in answer to a thousand questions from all over 
the country, upon 

Death and Spirit Life, Spiritual 
Philosophy, Spirit Communications, 
Mediu ui ship, Clairvoyance, Mind Cure, Mag- 
netism, Medical and Scientific Subjects, 
&c, &c. 

Carefully selected, compiled, arranged subjectively, and 
brought down to latest dates; for the publishers. 





" The Coming Age" Publishing Office, 
Grand Eapids, Mich. 






Copy right, 1887, by "The Coming Age Publishing 
Company", Grand Eapids, Mich. 



To our readers and especially to clergymen. What the new 
philosophy of spiritualism teaches Is it of the Devil ? 

Within the past thirty years several prominent clergymen 
(one of them quite recently) have seen fit to denounce spi- 
ritualism from their pulpits. They have also concluded by 
attributing the phenomena and teachings to the evil one. 
Now above all things Spiritualists seek for the truth, and if 
this charge be true they want to know it. A few extracts 
from our best writers and speakers are appended. The 
clergymen of Orthodox Churches are invited to point out 
the evil in them. Having done so they are asked to tell 
who and what kind of a being the devil is, to give utter- 
ance to such teachings? And Spiritualists offer any of them 
the use of our platforms for that purpose! 

"If we believe the Bible record implicitly there should 
not be the shadow of a doubt about spirit communion. 
The appearance of the dead is an unanswerable argument; 
and according to that record five persons returned to 
earth — Samuel, Moses, Elias, Peter and John." 

"It is not sensible to say that wicked spirits are allow- 
ed to traverse space at will and lure us into sin, while 
our friends and relatives are banished from us. There is 
no law in nature allowing friends to assail us and at the 
same time forbidding our darlings to come nigh and bless 
us." 

"The good and wise can travel where the impure and 
foolish cannot." 

"Your spirit friends crave your co-operation; they peti- 
tion for your assistance. You. can help them as well as 
be helped by them; they are largely dependent upon you 
for success in their endeavors to enlighten humanity." 

"Frequently when we are crying out to our unseen 



4 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. 

friends and asking them to manifest themselves, they are 
the very cause of these desires. The fact that it is hard 
to realize spirit presence, is a blessing, because the effort 
to unfold the powers of the inner man, refines and beau- 
tifies our lives." 

"Every one does for himself what he wishes to do 
for another; all the good we wish our neighbors we at- 
tract, and whether it reaches them or not it blesses us. 
All the harm we wish them is drawn into our surround- 
ings, and forms part of the obstacles impeding our own 
progession." 

"The animality of the human race is its great curse at 
this hour. To direct animal forces into proper channels so 
that they become healing instead of destructive powers 
should be the great aim of every one who desires to ex- 
cel in the greatest work of all — self culture." 

"The healthy person need not be an orator or writer 
to effect society. His influence will go with him where- 
ever he goes, and many will be blessed, never to find 
out in this life, perchance, who their benefactor has been; 
but in a future state one of the intensest joys of your life 
will be to realize the good you did by faithfully obeying 
the laws of nature, even when you saw no outward re- 
sults of your labors and mourned over the limits to your 
circle of usefulness." 

"We must be ministering spirits. If we wish to be 
ministered unto from the higher realms we must minister 
to others." 

"Every life is a picture; every soul the artist." 

" The garments we wear, the food we prepare for others to 
eat, the books and papers we handle, the rooms we inhabit, the 
very air we breathe, all are charged in a degree with our life. 
* * We may be fountains of health or miasmatic pools to 
those around us. * * Even our thoughts photograph them- 
selves on the astral atmosphere. Our states of mind and body 
will either bless or taint everything we touch and every place 
we visit." 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

"Spiritualism will teach that man has not only a soul to save 
after death, but he has a spirit to purify, to consecrate to holi- 
ness of life and purpose while in the human form. Teach him 
to know something of the spirits that walk by his side and 
speak words of counsel and cheer. Teach him that man need 
not die to go to heaven, but that he may live continually in 
heaven and have that heaven on earth." 

"The church never yet offered hospitality to new and larger 
ideas and we fear it never will. It spends its strength in de- 
fining, restricting, warning and threatening — these form the 
buttresses of its organization. It was so in Christ's time. The 
new faith will be founded on the most conclusize evidence, and 
it will be a faith which shall be ever receiving the addition of 
knowledge." 

In conclusion, we beg our readers to remember that truth 
is of more value than everything else; that it is best for all, 
and that it should be accepted without regard to consequences. 
Indeed, truth casts out all fear, and truth, indeed, shall make 
us free! Editor. 



OF CHILDEEN IN SPIEIT LIFE. 



Each Message in this compilation, we claim was spoken by a spirit 
through the instrumentality of some medium while in an abnormal 
condition called the trance. The different questions, or sets of ques- 
tions, are usually answered by different controlling spirits, and hence 
sometimes differ in conclusions, but rarely ever in stating facts, 
within the ken of the speaker. 

We ask the reader to receive no doctrine put forth by spirits in 
these columns that does not comport with his or her reason. All ex- 
press as much of truth as they perceive — no more. 



Of Children in Spirit Life. 

Ques. — Does an embryotic babe, one day old, have an 
existence in spirit-life? 

Ans. — More than that; the soul becomes clearly, definite- 
ly individualized at conception, and goes on from that 
period, throughout all future eternities, an individualized 
soul. Here, then, is a study, grand and beautiful, for fath- 
ers and mothers to take up. 

Q. — (From a correspondent.) Will the controlling spirit 
describe the beginning of the spirit-life of a babe? 

A. — The babe enters the spirit-life upon the same plane 
of dependence that it enters this life, and has need ot care, 
and of all that loving kindness that would have a tendency 
to bring out the buds and blossoms of the soul. Babes 
always find a welcome with us. Indeed, heaven would be 
no heaven at all without them, and when you shed them 
from the parent stalk here, and they are transplanted there, 
you know not how much joy you give to the angel-world. 
While your tears are falling fast, a welcome is being chant- 
ed there. These little waifs, sent out upon the great ocean 
of spirit-life, are tenderly cared for by spiritual fathers and 
mothers, in that beautiful fatherland of the soul. They are 
taken to pleasant homes, and educated, taught concerning 
their earthly homes, are never allowed to forget their earth- 
ly parents, but are instructed in all that makes up a perfect 



O HIGHER TEACHINGS OE SPIRITUALISM. 

spirit; so, seemingly, they lose nothing by the change; 
and yet, in reality, they lose that experience with matter 
which is sometimes of the utmost importance and necessity 
to the growing spirit, and therefore it is that there is a ne- 
cessity, an absolute necessity for the coming in ot the doc- 
trine of reincarnation. They who fail to get their proper 
amount of experience through matter, at one round 
through matter, must try it again. And so nearly all these 
little waifs that go from you and come to us, are destined 
to return again and take up the thread of a broken material 
existence, and carry it on to a perfect life. 

Q. — [By Mrs. K. L. V.] Is the spirit-body built up 
from and through the physical? — and, if so, how is it pos- 
sible for a child born without hands, arms, or deficient in 
any other part, to have the spirit-member supplied? 

A. — The spiritual body proper is never maimed. If the 
physical body loses a limb, the spiritual body does not. 

Ques. — [From a correspondent.] Messages are quite of- 
ten given here from children, who speak of their present 
home, mentioning only that it is pleasant, and generally 
telling us that they live with some relation, known to the 
person to whom the message is sent. Will you describe a 
spiritual home, its surroundings, amusements, employments, 
and give us some idea of its location? 

Ans. — No; you might as well ask us to describe God. 
The things of the spirit are to be spiritually understood. 
Now it is expected that if I give a description I will 
give an accurate one, or none at all. I cannot do it. I can 
only go so far as others have gone, in declaring these 
homes to be beautiful, in saying that they are tangible 
realities, that they are dwellings surrounded by the 
beautiful in nature — perhaps by trees, water, shrub- 
bery, flowers. All that goes to make up a beautiful 
rural home here, generally constitutes the beauty 
of a spiritual home, and yet these spirit-homes are so far 
beyond your earthly homes in beauty, that it would be im- 



OF CHILDREN IN SPIRIT LIFE. 9 

possible to give jou an accurate description of them. No 
spirit ever has done it; no spirit can do it. 

Q. — Are young children who die and leave dear and 
loving parents, brothers and sisters, and everything bright 
and pleasing to them, happy? 

A. — Yes; it is the nature of childhood to be happy under 
most circumstances. 

Q. Is there not something wrong about the death of the 
young? Are not those who live to the age o£, manhood, 
and pass through the trials of life here, better prepared for 
the next? 

A. — I would hardly want to say that there was something 
wrong in the death of the young; but I would say it is bet- 
ter to stay here and receive your full complement of physi- 
cal discipline. 

Q. — [From a correspondent.] Does a family congregate 
together in the spirit-land, and have they the same love and 
respect for each other there that they have in the earth- 
life? 

A. — Yes, they do; but it should not be forgotten that 
there are more families that have no respect for each other, 
no love for each other here, than there are those who do. 
Those who are bound together in family ties here by the 
stern necessities of this life, and nothing more, are separat- 
ed there. Those who are bound together by the ties of 
love, the ties of natural soul-affinity here, are together 
there; and they form beautiful groups in the soul-world, 
such as you seldom find in this life. 

Q. — [From G. R. Robinson.] If spirits are in den tilled 
by face, age, shape, size, etc., and our ideas of beauty con- 
tinue the same, would it not be wise to die young? 

A. — Hardly; since the conditions of the spirit-world are 
so well adapted to the renewing of youth. It should be un- 
derstood that it is the physical body that grows old, not the 
spiritual body. That advances to maturity, but does not 



10 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. 

grow old. Now, when you lay off the physical body, you 
lay off the infirmaries of age. It matters not, then, whether 
you die old or young; it is all the same. 

Q. — Supposing a child, after an earthly existence of a 
few months, passes to spirit-life, and is reared, educated 
and cared for by one to whom it bears no earthly relation, 
and an interval of fifty years or more elapses before the 
parents close their earthly careers, do those parents and 
that child meet as such? And does the spirit who has sus- 
stained those many years the position of a true father or 
mother feel called upon to relinquish all claims which that 
position might naturally be supposed to have created? 

A. — A child who dwells in an earthly form for a few 
months and then passes to the spirit-spheres takes with it 
the love and affection of its earthly parents. This affection 
causes the hearts of those parents to cry out and long for 
the presence of that dead one who has departed from the 
body, and this continual yearning attracts the spirit back; 
this condition of their minds, this sympathy and sensitive 
love for it throws out, so to speak, a magnetic aura upon 
which it returns to its earthly home. Under these conditi- 
ons a responsive love is awakened in the heart of the little 
one who is continually fed by the emanations of affection 
which go forth from the hearts of its earthly progenitors. 
As time rolls on, year succeeding year, and the parents still 
remain upon the earth, the child continues to revisit its 
mortal home and to come into contact with its parents in 
the body, continues to receive from the fount of affection, 
and impart from its own in return; therefore, when the 
earthly parents of the child are taken to the spiritual world 
they meet their offspring in the bonds of sympathy and af- 
fection, they recognize it as their child, it recognizes them, 
undoubtedly, as its parents, and extends to them the 
amount of love, honor and respect which is due them by 
right and which they return as fully as they understand the 
laws of spiritual life, for, in the spirit-world, the parent re- 



OF CHILDREN IN SPIRIT LIFE. 11 

spects and honors his offspring just as fully as the child 
does the parent. Having been taken to the spirit-world at 
an early age, and provided with parents or guardians in 
that sphere, calculated to attend to its wants, to awaken 
within it the highest and noblest attributes of being, to in- 
culcate the highest principels of honor and truth within its 
mind, and to surround it with all the holiest and purest con- 
ditions of life in order to make of that individual a soul 
fitted to adorn the highest sphere of existence, that child 
has, in time, a certain amount of love, of real spiritual af- 
fection awakened within its heart for its spiritual -guardians 
which is reciprocated by those guardians; no change, sepa- 
ration or any experience in life can interfere to sever that 
magnetic connection between the spirit-child and its loved 
guardians, and none can take its place in their hearts, for it 
is a spiritual love, and as such cannot perish. The earthly 
parents will hold their true position in the heart of their 
child, the spiritual guardians will retain theirs, for 
there is room enough for all. Spiritual love, spiritual 
sympathy, knows no decay, but as time rolls on and the 
spirit advances in knowledge and wisdom, its capability for 
loving expands within it until like a beautiful river it over- 
flows to enrich the hearts of all with whom it comes in 
contact. 

Q. — [By D. B. Burnham.] Thomas Paine, in his "Phis- 
olophy of Creation," says: "When an infant dies and 
enters the spirit-world it always remains an infant in stat- 
ure or spirit-body; it develops in intelligence, but has no 
growth of the body." He also says, u Man is possessed of 
an immortal principle, or principle of intelligence, called 
spirit." He further says, "Spirit is simply a substance, 
but so sublimated and refined as to be imperceptible and 
intangible to human senses." Please explain these state- 
ments? 

A. — Thomas Paine, standing before you to-day, would 
undoubtedly modify the statements which your correspond- 



12 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. 

ent affirms he has made. Keturning spirits almost univer- 
sally teach that an infant, passing to the spirit-world, is not 
dwarfed in growth, but that it attains to the stature of man- 
hood, that in passing through the periods of infancy, child- 
hood and youth, until it reaches maturity, the spirit of the 
child grows in correspondence to the spiritual body; it gains 
knowledge, acquires a comprehension of truth, reaps ex- 
perience becomes rounded out in wisdom. We have never 
seen an instance of an infant passing to the spirit-world 
and remaining in the stature of the stage of infancy; it is 
contrary to all precedent; and, indeed, we think you will 
find no intelligent spirit returning to you teaching any such 
idea. 



Nature of the Spirit, or Spirit-body. 

Spirit may be confounded with the spirit-body. The 
spiritual body is, to us, substance; highly sublimated, no 
doubt, but still substance; it can, under proper conditions, 
even here for a moment be perceived, seen and handled. 
We do not mean now in a materialized form, but we mean 
in its own spiritual form; to spirits around it it is plainly 
perceptible, can be touched, and is, to all intents and pur- 
poses, substance. Spirit, we look upon as the inner prin- 
ciple. Many returning spirits call the spiritual body spirit, 
and define the inner principle as soul. You may do that, 
if you choose. The inner principle, the intelligence, is dis- 
tinct from the outer substantial covering, and we always 
define them in this way: Intelligence, to us, is that moving 
power whichs acts upon the spiritual body and causes it to 
operate in any of its functions. Intelligence, soul, vital 
force of being, may be classified as one principle, but they 
are distinct from substance, which your correspondent 
affirms Thomas Paine has called spirit. 



NATURE OF THE SPIRIT, OR SPIRIT-BODY. 13 

Q. — [From a correspondent] Have not spirits facilities 
for analyzing, or, as it were, dissecting and comprehending 
that wondrous, complex enigma termed a human spirit? 

A. — Certainly they have. By spirit we understand you 
to mean the body with which the soul is clothed — the inner 
machinery that is playing between this outer body and the 
soul. It is just as capable of analysis as is the human 
body. It is composed of particles that may be divided and 
subdivided ad infinitum, almost. The chemistry of the 
spirit-world stretches out into infinitude. It takes in the 
all of life, and, as the soul advances in wisdom, becomes 
more and more acquainted with life in the past, in the pre- 
sent, and it learns something of life as it will be in the 
future. 

Q. — (From the audience.) You speak of the soul and 
the spirit in apparent distinction. Is there a spiritual body 
that the soul inhabits, or are the spirit and soul one? 

A. — Spirit and soul are two, one being the clothing of 
the other — one being the machine through which the other 
acts. I speak of the soul as the inner life; the spirit as the 
clothing of that soul — as the power which plays or acts be- 
tween that soul and the physical condition here in this life, 
and which the soul carries with it to the spirit-world. It is 
a spiritual body inhabiting a physical body during physical 
life, that is taken with the soul to the spirit-world at the 
hour of death. 

Q. — By W. A. Loveland, of New York: Is the spirit 
principle of a human being a complex organization of 
simple or mere elemental principles, which in some past 
time existed separately, corresponding to the simple mate- 
rial elements of a chemical or organic compound? 

A. — I believe the scientific men of the spirit-world under- 
stand the spirit to be composed of all that exists in nature, 
there being nothing outside of nature. 

Q. — [By H. H. Kenyon.] It has been said that spirits 
cannot pass through solid substances; if so, what becomes 



14 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. 

of those buried while in a trance? (Casket fastened tight, 
of course.) 

A. — The statement is erroneous. Matter presents no 
barrier to the spirit. Spirit can readily pass through all 
substances that appear solid and substantial to your senses; 
therefore those individuals who are unfortunate enough to 
be be buried alive have no difficulty, after the spirit sepa- 
rates itself from the body, in passing out through all the 
confines which may seem to restrain them, and entering in- 
to the atmosphere, ay, even gravitating to the spiritual 
world itself, or taking their appointed place in the spheres. 
Matter, though presenting a solid appearance to you, is in 
reality porous, and to the spirit it appears intangible, im- 
material. The strong positive will can overcome any bar- 
rier of a material nature, and pass outward beyond all 
confines; therefore your correspondent need have no fear 
nor entertain the erroneous thought that it is possible to 
confine the spirit within dungeons, or by bolts and bars, for 
the spirit defies all material limitations, and triumphantly 
soars to its proper domain. The only class who are con- 
fined to earthly conditions are those whose desires, tenden- 
cies and aspirations are of a low order, who are really 
allied to physical life through a psychological law; all 
those who are on a high plane and aspire toward a spiritual 
life can pass onward and upward forever. 
Q. — Does not experience teach us that the spirit is but an 
outgrowth of the physical form? 

A. — It never taught me that. It may so teach you. 
Life has taught me quite the contrary. It has taugtht me 
that all form is the outgrowth of spirit; that spirit is the 
underlying basis of all things — the power, the principle 
from which all things are evolved. I see you take the op- 
posite view. 

Q. — Why then does the mind decay as the body grows 
old? 

A. — The mind does not decay. Its manifestations be- 



NATURE OF THE SPIRIT, OR SPIRIT-BODY. 15 

come imperfect, because here in mortal life it is called upon 
to manifest through a mortal machine; and if that is out of 
order, if that has become diseased, the manifestation will 
be correspondingly diseased and out of order. The most 
perfect musician cannot give a perfect manifestation in 
music unless you supply a perfect instrument. 

Q. — Does spirit ever lose its individuality? 

A. — No. I do not believe that it ever does. 

Q. — Is there not a time, at death, when it does? 

A.* — Xo; certainly not. Death has no more power upon 
the spirit than it has power upon the sun. It has no effect 
upon it whatever. Death is a chemical change that takes 
place in the physical body, but it does not affect the spirit, 
only that it separates it from the physical body. The spirit 
goes forth precisely the same that it was while in the body. 
It has lost nothing; it has gained nothing. 

Q. — Do we have the celestial body that is spoken of in 
the Bible as soon as we die? 

A. — You have it before you die. It is with you now. 
It forms an ethereal, mystic covering for the nervous 
system, and it passes out or is expelled from the 
physical body by the electrical forces. When the magnetic 
force has departed it is the business of the electric force to 
expel this spirit body; then you are born again. 

Q.— [By Major Carpenter, Delphi, N, Y.] If the spirit- 
ual body is afac simile of the earthly, with what age of the 
earthly body does it correspond* 

A. — The spiritual body corresponds to the earthly body 
at the time of the transition of the spirit trom the mortal 
form: indeed, we have seen the spiritual body presenting 
the appearance of infirmity, wearing the expression of 
weariness and age; the spirit bearing such a body, however, 
having only just arrived in the eternal world. As the spi- 
rit advances, throws aside the conditions of material life, 
and rises above them, the spiritual body sloughs off all ap- 
pearance of age, weariness or infirmity; it gains strength 



16 THE HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. 

and power, and when it has become thoroughly matured, 
presents the appearance of an individual in his prime. 
Age, in the spirit-world, does not express itself in lines 
npon the brow, or in whitened hair, but it does manifest it- 
self by an appearance of experience, of wisdom, stamped 
upon the features of the spirit. Mortals who pass to the 
spiritual life aged, after having thrown aside the conditions 
of the material, seem to take upon themselves that appear- 
ance which they would have presented in the prime of life 
upon the earth, provided their material bodies were sound 
and healthy. Infants who pass to the spirit-world have 
bodies corresponding to what their mortal forms were 
when they passed away. These bodies pass through the 
processes of growth and change, growing and expanding 
until they arrive at maturity, when they present the same 
appearance as one who is in the prime of life, possessing a 
sound and healthy physique. 

Q. — Do malformations of the earthly body extend to or 
in any degree affect the spiritual body? 

A. — The malformations of the physical body affect the 
spiritual form but little, although the latter is largely made 
up of emanations from the former, yet it receives 
elements and magnetic particles from the atmosphere, and 
from the conditions of spiritual life, which counter- 
act whatever malformation may exist in the outward 
form, and tend to complete and round out a symmetrical 
spiritual body. Malformations and deformities, belonging 
to physical life alone, have no part or place in the spiritual 
universe, therefore are not seen and recognized in the 
higher life. 

Q. — Will not the duality of man forever exist? That is, 
however far advanced he may be in spirit-life, will not there 
be an inner self, or individualized consciousness, and an 
outer one, each distinct from the other in a degree corre- 
sponding to that of his dual being on earth? 

A. — We are taught that throughout the various advance- 



NATUKE OF THE SPIRIT, OR SPIRIT-BODY. 17 

ments of man's career, throughout the different spheres 
which he is called upon to fill, he ever continues to remain 
a dual being. We may call it spirit and and body, or soul 
and spirit, as we choose; but we always find an interior self, 
as your correspondent expresses it; the soul, as we term it 
in the spiritual life, which is intelligence and will; which, 
however, expresses it self through an outer covering. All 
that we have learned of man in the various stages of spirit- 
ual life, teaches us that he ever remains a dual being; that 
he is never apart from the outer man. We speak of the 
terms form and body, which convey to your minds an idea 
of materiality; and yet we look upon matter as nothing less 
than materialized spirit, or spirit as nothing more than 
sublimated matter; and therefore we would say that the 
soul ever hath its corresponding body, although it may be 
very finely attenuated in the spiritual world. 

Q. — [By J. M. B.] Please draw the dividing line between 
soul and spirit? 

A. — Soul, we understand to be the life-principle of all 
being; it is that vital spark which animates conscious intel- 
ligent life. Spirit is the instrumentality of soul, through 
which the life-principle manifests itself and comes out to 
conscious sensibility. Spirit may be likened to a cover- 
ing of the soul, a tabernacle in which and through 
which the vital principle expresses itself. Spirit is 
the intermediary link between matter and the soul, binding 
the eternal spark of being to the external manifestation; in 
short, it is that which you are wont to call the spiritual 
body or being, and it is made to move and think, to express 
intelligence and power, by the indwelling, conscious, vital 
principle which is itself a part of the divine Source of all 
Being. 

Q. — Can spirits injure each other by striking and wounding? 

A. — Oh yes, but not with physical force, for the physical body 
it parts with at death. But there is a force far more potent 
than that which belongs exclusively to this earth. 



18 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. 

Q. — Are spirits subject to bodily accidents ? 

A. — Yes, they are, but not in the same degree that they are 
when here inhabiting these physical forms. There are no phys- 
ical accidents, no physical pain, but whatever tends to render 
the spirit unhappy mars its spirit body, and produces a stain 
upon its external garments. 

Q. — Does the spiritual body live by laws requiring food, rest, 
sleep and clothing? 

A. — Yes, because the spiritual body lives a natural life. That 
which is subject to waste, to decay, is also subject to demand 
and supply. The same laws that have an existence with refer- 
ence to the natural body here upon earth, have also an exist- 
ence in the spirit-life, only spiritualized; and they pertain to 
and act upon the spirit-body. 

Q. — Does any change of temperature occur in the spirit- 
world? 

A. — Yes, there is an infinite number of degrees of 
change — all the various gradations that are necessary to 
spirit-life. 

Q. — Extreme cold and extreme heat, with all its grada- 
tions? 

A. — Not such cold or heat as you experience here, but 
that which is equivalent to it. 

Q. — Are those living there made uncomfortable by these 
changes? 

A. — No, not necessarily, because the spirit has the power 
more perfectly than here to adapt itself to conditions. The 
law of adaptation is better understood there than here. If 
you understood it here, the fire would not burn you, the 
water would not drown you; when the air was at a very 
low temperature it would not freeze you. 

Q. — Do you mean to say that if we understood the law 
we could resist these changes with our physical bodies? 

A. — Yes, I do mean that you shall understand me pre- 
cisely thus. 



CLOTHING IN SPIRIT LAND. 19 

Q. — Will that knowledge ever be possessed by men on 
earth? 

A. — I think not. At all events, it is so far in the future, 

if it ever comes, that it would be folly to hope for it. 

Note. Spirit, soul, and body, we are taught, go to make up mortal 
man. Soul, the interior, intelligent, life giving principle; a spark 
of the Vital Being. Body, of the earth — earthy. The external 
palpable, visible substance, corpor, which is actuated and guided by 
the soul within. Spirit, the invisible, refined, etherial substance 
through which the soul acts upon the body. It is interwoven or in- 
terblended with the material body and of like shape and form, but 
does not grow old nor decay with it. Clairvoyants often see its 
counterpart- the spirit, slowly rise from the dying body and re-form, 
in youth and beauty, over the mortal death bed. — Editor. 



Clothing in Spirit Land. 

Q. — By what means does the new-born spirit become cloth- 
ed upon immediately after entering the spirit-world? By the 
aid of friends, or ? 

A. — It goes to the spirit-world beautifully and perfectly 
clothed. It attracts to itself during the chemical change 
ealled death all that peculiar clothing that it requires. Its 
adornments are simple, but they are truthful to life. 

Q, — Are spirit garments merely bodily emanations? 

A. — No, they are not bodily emanations; they are spirit- 
ual emanations — thed are emanations from the internal, 
and they take shape or form in the external. These bodies 
are fashioned according to the internal natural germ, and 
in consonance with the law of Nature by which they 
are surrounded. So it is with regard to the spirit-body. 

A reply to a question given through the mediumship of 
Mrs. Cora L. V. Richmond and published in The Banner 
of Light gives some interesting information respecting the 
fashions in spirit-land: U Q. — By whom and in what man- 
ner is a spirit clothed upon his first entrance into the spirit- 
world from earth?" A. — The spirit has already raiment; 
the spirit is not clothed in external garments, fashioned as 



20 HIGHEK TEACHINGS OF SPIEITUALISM. 

earthly garments are; but affectionate friends, spirits who 
are in sympathy, are seen by clairvoyants to gather around 
and array the spirit. This process of arraying the spirit is 
really a process of revealing what the spirit has already. 
Garments are woven of atmospheric conditions and spirit- 
ual substances surrounding the individual; and your spirits 
are arrayed in light or darkness, in draperies according to 
your state and condition. Thi^ arraying may be assisted 
by ministering spirits, who, bringing their love and charity, 
enfold you with them as with a mantle, or bringing flowers, 
cause these flowers to adorn your raiment, as a friend might 
bring you an offering from an earthly garden. The sub- 
stance of these flowers, however, will be found to be of 
your own creation, the result of your own earthly lives and 
conditions; and if the garments are insufficient or shadowy, 
filled with holes or imperfections, it is because your earth- 
lives have been such as to inweave in your spiritual atmos- 
phere robes insufficient to clothe you with light. 



Of Spirit Food. 

Q. — Is food required in the spirit-world?" 

A. — We certainly do not require that kind of food which 
you require; but we need to be sustained. We have bodies 
material, and they demand material sustenance. We ob- 
tain that material sustenance from the earth and what the 
earth provides — those of us who had our dwelling place on 
the earth prior to the change called death. If we were al- 
ways giving out and never receiving we should soon be ex- 
hausted. 

Q. — Do we drift there without an aim, or follow an avo- 
cation, a business, and eat, drink, sleep, &c, &c? 

A. — We certainly do not lead an aimless life in the spi- 
rit-world, but one altogether active — full of business. We 
eat; we drink; we sleep; we get weary; we get again 



OF SPIRIT FOOD. 21 

refreshed; we have business avocations. The artist finds 
ample means to unfold his talent there; so does the 
mechanic; and all through the various branches of business 
life you will find there is an active principle running in the 
spirit- world, tor there are no drones there. 

Q. — How do spirits obtain the food they use? What 
equivalent do they give for it? Do they work for it as we 
do here? and, if so, are they subject to the terrible reverses 
humanity experiences upon this earth on that account? 

A. — It is said that it is the order of Nature, in physical 
life, to obtain bread by the sweat of the brow, by toil, by 
exertion; and we may add further that to obtain anything 
that ministers either to our pleasures or our needs, we must 
exert ourselves, we must toil, we must labor. There is a 
kind of labor that belongs especially to the physical body, 
the physical, organic life, and there is another kind of 
labor which belongs to spiritual life. This kind is desire — 
ardent, earnest desire. You know very well what the kind 
that belongs to physical life is. You are not unacquainted 
with the toil of the hands, of the feet, the exerting of the 
members of the body to obtain what is necessary to sustain 
the body. But you are not so well acquainted with that 
which belongs more especially to the spirit; although you 
have sat, many, perhaps all of you, in the primary school 
of that spirit-labor, yet you have hardly crossed the thres- 
hold. Yes, spirits do labor here to obtain what is neces- 
sary for them to have. They labor by earnest desire, but 
they do not meet with those terrible reverses that are met 
with here. The soul's needs in the soul-world stand out 
prominent and clear, and they demand a supply. And as 
the great Father Spirit has furnished an adequate supply for 
every want, no desire can have a fruitless birth. It must 
draw to itself that which the soul has need of. A very 
large class or group of spirits, who are as yet 
magnetically attached to the earth and earthly con- 
ditions, obtain much of their sustenance through the 



22 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. 

action oi human life, through the magnetic conditions 
that belong partly to human life, or stand as agents be- 
tween this world and the world of souls. This subtle ele- 
ment called magnetism is the agent in the hands of who so 
can understand it; and a very powerful agent it is, too. 
Poverty is known to the spirit after death, but not that kind 
of poverty that is experienced here. The soul can possess 
itself at will of all that is necessary for its good, for its ad- 
vancement, for its unfoldment. The law of mine and thine 
is done away with in the spirit-world. Let us thank the 
Great Father for that. No soul can hug to its bosom any 
more of God's gifts than it has need of. No one can have 
more of the beauty of the spirit-world than it can well ap- 
propriate. Therefore you see there is enough for all. 



Of Spirit Language. 

Q. — Do spirits use vocal language in the spirit-world as 
they did on earth? If not, by what means do they con- 
verse with each other? 

A. — Yes, they do use vocal language, but it would not 
be vocal to human senses — to those senses that belong to 
the spirit body. There is sound — all the different varieties 
of sound — in the spirit world proper, as here. 

Q. Do spirits hold intercourse by means of an articulate 
language? 

A. — Certainly they do. The spirit-world is by no means a 
land of silence. If it were, it would hardly be heaven to most 
people. 

Q. What is the language of spirit-life? Surely if spirits 
have vocal organs they must have language. 

A. The language corresponds to the needs of the spirit. 

In the spirit-world sight is changed to perception. Lan- 



OF SPIKIT LANGUAGE. 23 

guage, to a very great extent, is bound to the law of per- 
ception. And yet it is a distinctive feature. There is sound 
in the spirit-world. It is not all silence, by no means. 
There is form. Forms change. There is a great variety 
ot sounds. All the different languages of earth, as of all 
the inhabited planets, are represented in the spirit-world. 
Language has a spirit, as the flower has'a spirit. The spirit 
of the flower is the fragrance or peculiar exhalations of the 
flower. Language has its exhalations, its atmosphere, its 
spirit, and it is that that exists after the spirit passes out of 
the body. It is that that goes with the spirit. It is that 
that the spirit employs in communion with its fellows after 
death. 

Q. — You say there are sounds in the spirit-world. Are 
they echoes from the earth, or are they caused by spirits 
in the spirit-world? 

A. — They are not echoes from the earth, by no means. 
Sound also has its spirit, its pure, its more glorified part, 
and it is that that the spirits make use of. We have ours 
there. Ours are the more ethereal, the more glorious, the 
more beautiful, the more perfect. Every peculiar sound on 
earth sheds its own peculiar atmosphere, or light, or spirit, 
and it is that that spirits make use of in the spirit-world 
proper, or in that condition of life which follows the change 
called death. 

Q. — [From a correspondent.] Can spirits hear our or- 
dinary conversation without the aid of a human medium? 

A. — No; for those vibrations of sound can only make 
their appeal to the spiritual ear, first, through the material 
ear. 

Q. — Can any or all the spirits present at a sitting with a 
medium, hear or see all or any of the questions and answers 
passing between a person and a spirit communicating? 

A.— No. 

Q. — Many of the spirits communicating at your Free Cir- 
cle speak as if they had heard or read all that the spirit 



24 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. 

preceding them had said. Are these within the aura or at- 
mosphere of the medium? 

A. — Yes, always. 

Q. — Can a person not a medium make known by wish or 
prayer, to a spirit-friend at any time, when alone, his desire 
or hope? 

A. ISTo; but all can do this, for all are mediums. 



Of Spirit Publications. 

Q. — Are we to understand that you have volumes there 
by which you can enlighten yourselves on the history of 
the past? 

A.— Certainly. Everything that ever had an existence. 
All written works, all that bear the true impress of mind, 
remain throughout all eternity in the spirit-world. The 
volume that is destroyed here is by no means suffered to 
find the same fate there. You lose it, so far as the earth 
is concerned, but the spirit does not lose it. Do you un- 
derstand? [I do.] 

Q. — In case of destroyed MSS. or of typed works of liter- 
ature, or of records important to us here on earth, have you, 
in the spirit-world, those ideas in record un obliterated? If 
so, are they where you can consult them and impart their 
purport to us, when of importance to the development of 
science? 

A. — An accurate record of all written or unwritten 
thoughts that have found expression upon this planet is 
kept in the spirit-world proper, that belongs to this planet. 
Not a single thought is lost. All the old ideas are careful- 
ly kept in the spirit world. Nothing is lost, because every- 
thing has an internal or immortal life. All those valuable 
records that the past had but the present has not, so far as 
human life is concerned, are all kept in the spirit-world, and 
every soul that desires to inform itself concerning those 



OF SPIKIT PUBLICATIONS. 25 

records is at liberty so to do. They are free to all. The 
spirit-world is one vast public library. 

Q. — [From the audience.] Is there anything in the 
spirit-world corresponding to our daily and weekly press? 

A. — We must answer the question, Mr. Chairman, in the 
affirmative. This world is simply a miniature of the spirit- 
world, and probably before newspapers or books were ever 
printed upon your earth that invention was brought forth 
in the great spiritual realm. We should not be happy un- 
less we could have all that we had on earth. Those who 
have in earth-life been interested in the newspaper business 
will most assuredly be thus interested when they come to 
our homes. We find that whenever one has a real liking 
for any mechanical work, he is always glad to enter the 
work-shops of our spiritual homes. If he is a preacher and 
loves to preach, he is very glad to go to our wisdom-circles 
and learn there, until he can come back and influence some 
individual here. If he is a lecturer, very likely he loves to 
look over the old massive volumes which we have in our 
libraries, and he will come back and impress some lecturer 
here. If a physician, loving his profession, he comes on 
the wings of love to earth, after having gained all the 
knowledge that he can, and impresses it on some fellow- 
man, that he in turn may do good to humanity. There is 
not a single part of earth but what has its spiritual. The 
tiniest flower that blooms upon your world has its spiritual 
in the Summer-Land; the little leaf has its counterpart with 
us; there is nothing lost. Our world is a natural world. We 
live, move, and have our affections the same as in earth- 
life. 



Of Spirit Presence. 

Q. — [By E. J. S.] What are the means usually employ- 
ed by spirits to indicate their presence to an individual on 
earth? Do they produce any sensation, electrical or other- 



26 BTGHEK TEACHINGS OF SPIKITUALISM. 

wise, for that purpose, recognizable by their earth-friends? 

A. — Spirits have various ways of indicating their pres- 
ence to their mortal friends. A spirit very much in sym- 
pathy with an individual on earth, may not have the power 
of producing any effect upon the mortal friend, simply for 
want of susceptibility on the part of that mortal. Other 
spirits may come to their friends and indicate their presence 
in different ways. A spirit may be able to impress on the 
mind of his mortal friend a knowledge of his presence, and 
that friend may become fully assured that his dear spirit-com- 
panion is by his side, attending him in his earthly way. 
Another spirit may be able to produce an electric shock 
throughout the system of an earthly friend, and thus indi- 
cate his presence. Another may come with strong mag- 
netic power and send a great wave of warm air over the 
system of a mortal friend; or it may be he will come with 
a chilling influence. Other spirits have other ways of man- 
ifesting their presence to their earthly friends. Those who 
inspire with gentle thought and loving action the minds of 
their friends on earth, may perhaps affect the most utilita- 
rian work in the atmosphere of mortality, for they are daily 
influencing the lives and operating upon the minds of those 
they love, drawing them heavenward. 

Q. — [By an investigator.] Can spirits answer mental 
questions? If so, will you explain how? 

A. — Spirits can answer mental questions that are pro- 
pounded by mortals, provided a certain degree of unity or 
sympathy exists between the mortal questioner and the 
spirit. Any one in spirit-life who is naturally in sympathy 
with you, who can come into close association and contact 
with your spirit, can very readily read your thought; so if a 
question arises in your mind, although you do not give it 
verbal utterance, such a spirit may take note of it and reply 
as he sees fit. 

Q. — [By E. M. B.] A person with mediumistic powers 
has the following experience: An emanation passes to or 



OF SPIRIT PRESENCE. 27 

from the brain in rays of light. Will you give the meaning 
and purpose of this phenomenon? 

A. — Emanations passing from the brain of the individual 
are composed of the magnetic aura or nerve-force of his 
own being. These emanations are exhaled from the phys- 
ical organism, and are given forth in rays of light, at times, 
and at other times have the appearance of vaporous sub- 
stance. Emanations passing to the brain of a mediumistic 
person are composed of the magnetic aura of some attend- 
ant spirit, who directs them, by the force of his will-power, 
to the brain of his sensitive subject and concentrates them 
around the mental qualities of that subject, in order to bring 
him under the spirit's control. 

Q. — [By the same.] Many years ago, a spirit promised 
to communicate with me through the Banner of Light. 
The promise was given through prominent mediums of 
Boston, Brooklyn, and lastly of Minneapolis. I have 
watched the Banner for fourteen years, yet the message 
has never come. Will the controlling intelligeuce please 
explain, and greatly oblige an old subscriber? 

A. — It very often happens that a spirit, either before or 
after passing from the body, determines in its own mind 
that it will control a special medium and manifest to earthly 
friends, not realizing that its magnetism may not be adapt- 
ed to that of the medium selected, or assimilate with it, so 
as to enable it to manipulate the instrument and give intel- 
ligent communications to friends. Hence the failure, 
though it may have promised to do so through two or more 
mediums. It is very probable that the spirit under con- 
sideration has endeavored, time and again, to manifest 
through the different mediums who have occupied a position 
on this platform, but through the failure of understanding the 
psychological law of control has been unable to step into 
this special line of communication and make its wishes 
known. Evidently the same spirit might very readily con- 
trol some other medium and give an intelligent communi- 



28 HIGHEE TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. 

cation. It is not wise for a spirit to become positive on the 
subject of controlling one medium, for as we have before 
stated, conditions and circumstances may be such that it 
will be unable to fulfill the purpose which it had in mind. 

Q. — Are there beings who know all our thoughts and ac- 
tions, and who approve or condemn us for them? 

A. — We reply in the affirmative; but of course can do so 
only through inferential deduction. We have not the same 
evidence of the Infinite Mind that we have evidence of 
your presence, because your presence is something we can 
thoroughly comprehend; your spirits are spirits with whom we 
can meet as equals; whereas, the Infinite Spirit must neces- 
sarily be beyond us. * * That there are spirits who know 
everything we do, we are absolutely certain; that there are 
beings in the universe who can read us through and 
through, who know our every motive, we have no more 
doubt than we have doubt that we live. 

Q. — How can we call for spiritual help? 

A. — When any soul has a constant and earnest enquiry 
for truth, so soon as it becomes a fixed and immovable de- 
sire, it is like a battery set up within the soul, out of which 
proceed electric lines of light, that touch and question every 
soul that possesses the knowledge that would answer such 
desire, and calls them by an imperative summons to answer 
to their kindred brother. In this way a knowledge of 
the truth may be brought home to every soul. 



Of Clairvoyance or Spiritual Vision. 

Q. — Will you please explain the difference, if any, be- 
tween clairvoyance, vision and dreams that foreshadow or 
present occurrences that afterwards actually take place? 

A. — They are different phases of one and the same 
power. 



NATUKE OF THE SPIRIT, OR SPIRIT-BODY. 29 

Q. — Does a person in the clairvoyant state see exter- 
nally? 

A. — The clairvoyant sees by perceiving, and not with the 
natural organ of sight. It is the inner sight which takes 
cognizance of external things. 

Q. — [From a correspondent.] Can a mesmerist, by the 
aid of a medium, put himself in communication with a per- 
son at a distance, read his every thought, and describe his 
surroundings? 

A. — Yes; with the exception of reading every thought. 
We cannot say as that, in the case, would be done, or could 
be. 

Q. — Can a mesmerist entrance a person at a distance, 
even though the person to be entranced has no knowledge 
of the person, or whereabouts of the mesmerist? 

A. — Yes; thousands of cases will attest to the fact. 

Q. — Can the person thus entranced hear not alone the 
mesmerist but those in connection with him? 

A.— Yes. 

Q. — Can all persons become clairvoyants, in the common 
acceptation of the term? 

A. — They are all clairvoyants, whether they will or not. 
Every soul is gifted with clairvoyance. The gift may not 
be exercised so that you are conscious of it, but you have 
it, nevertheless. 

Q. — When the spirit of a clairvoyant leaves the body 
and goes to the spirit-realm, may it not see the actual spirit 
bodies as they exist? 

A. — Certainly; it is seen under spiritual conditions, but 
not under physical conditions. Clairvoyance may be call- 
ed the telescope of mind. It reveals to your human senses 
what physical senses under ordinary conditions could not 
see. By the use of the telescope you behold distant plan- 
ets. You do not know that they exist without the use of 



30 THE HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. 

the telescope. By and through clairvoyance, the soul be 
holds disembodied spirits and communes with them. 

Q. — Do clairvoyants and mediums retain and exercise 
the same or a corresponding power in the spirit-world as 
they have here? 

A. — They do, only the power is largely increased by the 
change. 

Q. — [By E. D. B.] When a medium is so developed as 
to be able to see, while the natural eyes are tightly closed, 
many beautiful and greatly refined colors, tints, and a great 
variety of beautiful symmetrical figures, landscapes, flowers, 
spirits, etc., in a soft clear light — the scenes constantly 
changing — is kaleidoscopic vision the most proper name for 
the same, and do attending guardian spirits conduct said 
changes? 

A. — Such a condition of clear sight denotes the posses- 
sion of clairvoyant powers of a high order. We should not 
generally call it kaleidoscopic vision, although there is no 
objection to the possessor doing so; we should call it inde- 
pendent clairvoyance; that is, the spiritual perceptions are 
so developed as to take cognizance of what is passing 
around and usually invisible to mortals. Sights, sounds, 
colors and vibrations in the atmosphere exist all around 
you, but they are imperceptible to the external senses. One 
whose spiritual perceptions are highly developed, or are 
very keen, may be able to take cognizance of such surround- 
ings, and thus to have his brain impressed by them, as 
must be the brain of the one referred to in the question. 
Such clairvoyant powers may be under the watchful guid- 
ance and guardianship of attendant spirits, or they may be 
exercised independently of any particular spiritual intelli- 
gence. Probably they are developed, operated upon and 
strengthened by attending spirit-guides; but it may be a 
matter of choice with those guides, whether, after these 
powers and senses have been unfolded, they will remain in 
contact with the sensitive and take charge of his organism, 



OF CLAIKVOYANCE OK SPIRITUAL VISION. 31 

or whether these clairvoyant perceptions, spiritual sensa- 
tions, will arise and exist in the individual alone, independ- 
eut of watchful spiritual guardianship. We affirm that 
every individual possesses a sixth sense, one not recognized 
in physical life — it is that of spiritual perception — and not 
only does this sense apply itself to the spiritual vision or 
eyesight, but it is a part of every sense in the individual: 
perception meaning, to our minds, something more keen 
and far-reaching than simply the word sight or clairvoyance; 
the spiritual perception being able not only to take cogni- 
zance of objects in the spiritual atmosphere, but to perceive 
the presence of objects, persons or conditions independent 
of the use of the spiritual eye, to hear sounds and retain im- 
pressions that are not usually retained or comprehended by 
the mortal senses. 



(<r\ pgj p^ -p^/^gv^N -p^ apj 



Of God, Deity, Jehovih. 

Q. — Is the personality of God visible to spirits? and if so, 
how does he look? 

A. — Yes, the personality of God is visible to spirits, and 
that personality is represented through all the various forms 
that make up the different conditions of life. We see God 
in the flower, we see him in the storm, in the starlight, in 
day and night, in the saint and the sinner, in all things this 
personality is represented, but in no other way. 

Q. — Did God ever talk to anybody? 

A. — Yes, I hope so, and I so believe. At any rate, God 
talks with me through the falling waters, through the rus- 
tling leaves, through the storm, through the starlight, 
through all the manifestations of his scripture-book of 



32 OF GOD, DEITY, JEHOVIH. 

nature; but most of all, best and highest of all, through 
human life. 

Q. — What is God essentially? 

A. — Everything. Essentially you are God, I am God — 
the flowers, the grass, the pebbles, the stars, the moon, the 
sun, everything is God. Now that may seem to be a very 
material idea of God, but in reality it is not. If you can 
show me where God is not, then you can force me to be- 
lieve that God in essence and God in torm is not every- 
where present to our understandings. God to me speaks 
through the water and the dry land; through the skies, 
through the flowers, through the mountains and the valleys. 
I cannot understand God as existing outside of Nature. 

Q. — It is said his eyes are over all the works of his hand. 
Has he eyes except in the work of Nature? 

A. — There is a great many things said which are very 
foolish, and had better be unsaid. Yes; God has eyes 
everywhere, because life is everywhere. We are related 
to all things in existence, and the soul perceives this rela- 
tion. There is no need of external organs of sight. The 
soul sees by perception, and I believe that God sees by 
perception. Your old idea ot a personal Deity presupposes 
the existence of eyes, of ears, of hands and feet, and, in 
fact, of all the organs of the body. But when you con- 
ceive of God as a great, mighty essence, pervading all 
forms and having ail forms for its own, then you will 
conceive of an infinite God, and not one that is finite. 
Your personal God would be so thoroughly finite that he 
would not answer the demand of even one soul. 

Q. — Do you entertain the idea that God is essentially 
life and love, and that life and love exist as two creative 
forces? 

A. — Yes; that is true, absolutely true. 

Q. In what sense are we made in the image of God and 
after his likeness? 

A. Man is made in the image of God simply because he 



OF GOD, DIETY, JEHOVIH. 33 

holds within his physical form all the elements that exist in 
the universe. There is nothing, no kind of life that man 
in the physical does not hold within himself. He is a 
microcosm of all beneath him, and stands as the crowning 
glory of creation. In this sense, and in this alone, may he 
be said to be created in the image of God. Because creat- 
ed in the image of all things beneath him, he represents all 
things, holds all things, embraces everything. In this sense 
is he in the image of God. 

Q. — What power originated matter? 

A. — It would be absolutely impossible to define the 
power that originated matter. I believe matter to be eter- 
nal, coexistent with its divine source. These abstract 
questions it is very hard to answer. We behold the scource 
of matter in all matter. We find no point where matter 
was not, no starting epoch. Go back as far as we may, 
and still matter is. And the same inherent power that con- 
trols and supports matter, and lives in matter to-day, has 
always done so. 

Q. — Tell me, O my Creator, whence came life? This un- 
seen within me, that is conscious of being? Tell me how 
all the living came into life? 

A. — Jehovih said: Because of my presence quickened 
I into life all that live, or ever have lived. By virtue of 
my Presence created I the seen and the unseen worlds. 
Each and every living thing created I new upon the earth, 
of a kind each to itself, and not one living thing created I 
out of another. [Oahspe.] 

Q. — Shall we see God after death? 

A. — Think not that great wisdom cometh suddenly by 
dying; in thy early entrance into the es world thou shalt be 
easily deceived. For which reason thou shalt school thy- 
self every day of thy life that thy Creator only is thy God; 
and that Him thou shalt never see, as thou seest a man or 
an angel; but that Him also thou canst see every day in 
the glory of his works. [Oahspe p. 795.] 



34 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. 

Q. Who is Jehovih? 

A. — Jehovih, is The Everlasting Being whose person is 
the spirit and substance of all things. [Oahspe.] 

Q. — Is the Deity a being, or is he a principle pervading 
all Nature? If the latter, why do you address him as a 
being, in the invocation? 

A. — That our God is a personal and also an impersonal 
God, is equally true. Since the God-power or God-life is 
everywhere, I believe in the worship of all that is worthy 
of worship. If it is the flowers, let us worship there. If 
it is the human soul, let us worship there. If it is a 
lofty thought, let us worship there. Wherever we see 
anything, or perceive any state, either of mind or matter 
that is worthy of worship, there we should worship. All 
Spiritualists, I believe, consider God to be an infinite prin- 
ciple pervading all forms, occupying all space. I believe 
this. I have seen nothing during my life in the spirit- 
world to cause me to believe otherwise. I did not believe 
it when here. But the Book of Life hath been so widely 
opened to me since death, that I can come to no other 
conclusion than that God is a principle, pervading all forms, 
and occupying all space. God is in the atmosphere, and 
is the atmosphere. God is in the sunlight, and is the sun- 
light God is the sun and the shadow. He is everything, 
and is in all places. It is absolutely useless to endeavor to 
confine God to any particular place or state of being, for 
could we do that we should rob God of the God-power. 
We should at ones chain this great eternal principle, this 
infinite life, to finite space. We should at once bring it 
down within the scope of human analysis. And I for one 
am glad we cannot. But we have been so in the habit of 
addressing this Deity, this Power ot Life, as though it 
were a man or woman, a personality like ourselves, that it 
is very hard to change our course: and indeed it would 
not be well for us so to do, because as I before remarked, 



■ OF GOD, DEITY, JEHOVIH. 35 

our God is a personal God, and therefore it is proper that 
we should thus address him. 

Q. — In accepting God as a principle instead of a person, 
will the controlling spirit tell us that which we should love 
with our whole heart. 

A. Everything that is lovely, that appeals to your highest 
sense of the beautiful and true. Love a good act with all 
your soul, for it is of God; love a divine thought, love 
everything that will aid you in climbing up the hill of life; 
love everything that will make you better — everything that 
appeals to your highest conceptions of good. 

Q. — Shall we ever see the divine power who guides us? 

A. — Yes, all the time, every day of your lives; you may 
see it here (in the flowers) most beautifully manifested. The 
divine life appeals to your love of beauty, talks to that sense 
of the soul which admires the beautiful, and that sense re- 
sponds to this external manifestation. The good God 
dwells in the flower just as much as he dwells in the soul. 
If you can tell me where God is not, you can tell me what 
the angels have never dared to tell. 



Death, or Spirit Birth. 

Please give the mode of birth into spirit-life. Is the 
newly born spirit a spontaneous presence to his spirit 
friends, or is it a gradual process? 

A. When the last particle of magnetic life has been sep- 
arated from the animal body, then the spirit body is thor- 
oughly and well formed. It is a distinct, objective intelli- 
gence to all other spirits. 

Q. — When the breath leaves the body does the spirit re- 
tain it? 

A. — The spiritual body leaves the natural body by slow 
and distinctive processes, if it leaves naturally, and it some- 
times happens that it has partial control of that body for 



36 HIGHEK TEACHINGS OF SPIEITUAllSM. 

hours after the body has ceased the function of breath- 
ing. 

Q. — [By G. F.] A young woman, after a long, painful 
illness (consumption), died. For an hour or move previous 
to the spirit leaving the body, and for some considerable 
time afterwards, the room was filled with a beautiful per- 
fume, which was noticed by all present, and no one could 
account for it. Please explain. 

A. — We can not explain this particular case, not having 
come in contact with any spirit who was present, but the 
phenomenon was undoubtedly of spiritual origin. Spirits may 
have brought quantities of flowers from the other world, and 
surrounded the inanimate form of the departed with those 
blossoms, or what seems to us to be the most probable, the 
perfume noticed may have emanated from the spirits them- 
selves, who were present at the hour of dissolution to wel- 
come and bear away the new-born spirit. Understand us, 
when we make the assertion that spirits of an exalted de- 
gree emit from their persons a fragrance, a perfumed 
emanation, which, under certain circumstances, may be 
plainly discernible by mortals as well as by those spirits 
around them. All spirits and all mortals emit from their 
persons emanations; they are surrounded by a magnetic 
aura which passes through their being and envelopes them. 
This emanation has an odor of its own. Those who are 
crude, undeveloped, vicious, so to speak, in their natures, 
emit an odor which is intensely disagreeable and foul; those 
who are very high and exalted, spiritual in their tendencies 
and habits, emit an odor which is delightful to the senses, 
sweet and delicate. There are all sorts of odorous emana- 
tions between the two extremes of which we speak, conse- 
quently it may have been that those spirits who gathered 
to welcome the new-born soul, emitted such a powerful fra- 
grance as to fill the atmosphere and become perceptible to 
the senses of those in mortal form. 

Q. — [By E. B.] What are the feelings, iu general, of 



DEATH OR SPIRIT BIRTH. 37 

the dying — those who have led good lives, and those who 
have not? 

A. — Death in itself, as a physical process of nature, is 
not painful, although when death really attacks the mortal 
system it causes the muscles to contract, and therefore a 
sympathizing friend standing by might fear that the dying 
one was suffering intense agony. Those who have gradu- 
ally succumbed to the influence of some powerful anaesthe- 
tic, such as ether or chloroform, may understand something 
of the sensations which occur to one who is passing through 
the process of dissolution. Those who have lived good 
lives, and those who have done wrong, as your correspond- 
ent states it, alike feel the same painless change, so far as 
the physical is concerned, stealing over them; but if the 
mind is strongly exercised through fear or any fear or any 
other strong emotion, then, of course, the spirit will suffer 
in consequence. 

Q. — Do you think a soul can reach a point where it is 
impossible to reform? In other words, is it possible for a 
soul to wither, like a flower, and die? 

A. — Spiritualism teaches of eternal progress for the soul 
of man; and while it admits that a soul ma}% for a time, 
seem to be at a standstill, and appear to be so sunk in de- 
gradation to know nothing of, nor feel the inspiring influ- 
ence of goodness and right, yet it also affirms that such a 
soul cannot always remain in its degraded condition. We 
know of no point or state which a soul may reach that will 
not allow it opportunities for elevation or unfoldment. We 
do not think it possible tor a human soul to wither or fade 
out from existence. It is our belief, based upon the teach- 
ings we have received from higher sources, that the human 
soul, individually, is always a spark from the Divine Foun- 
tain of all Life and Intelligence, and is indestructible, co- 
eternal ever existing, and that it is impossible for any part 
or portion, or any emanation Irom that fount of life and 
power, to be extinguished or blotted out; consequently we 



38 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. 

do not think it possible for any soul, however low in aspira- 
tion it may seem to be, to fade out and die. We do not 
think it possible for a human beiug in soul-life ever to come 
to a condition whereby it is impossible to reform. But we 
do teach and believe that there are ever open to the spirit of 
man opportunities and facilities for improvement, for 
growth, for soul-progress, and that a spirit sunk in degrada- 
tion and crime will yet feel stirring within himself impulses 
and aspirations that will lead him on toward light, happi- 
ness and peace. 



Of Mediums and Mediumship. 

Q. — What constitutes a person a medium? 

A. — A medium is simply a body that is sensitive to the 
od forces in the universe — forces which you do not tho- 
roughly understand — those that have not come within the 
sphere of human science; those with which human science 
has not yet dealt. A medium possesses a peculiar quality 
of magnetism and electricity. The nervous system is gen- 
erally very finely attuned, and it is constantly receiving 
from the external world, and as constantly throwing out. 
There is a peculiar atmosphere, mental and physical, sur- 
rounding every well-developed medium, and whoso can en- 
ter that atmosphere, becomes at once in rapport with the 
medium, and whoso cannot enter it, cannot by any possibil- 
ity come into rapport, and are shut out as virtually as if 
there were a wall of fire between them. Mediums are, in 
other words, sensitive subjects, not only to the action of 
mind in the body, but to mind out of the body; and parti- 
cularly sensitive to mind out of the body. The elements 
used by disembodied spirits are found pervading the nerves. 
This subtle force that brings the departed spirit into com- 
munion with those still in the body, is the life principle of 
the nervous system. No kind of physical training can 



OF MEDIUMS AND MEDIUMSHIP. 39 

create it or change its inherent properties. The power that 
is within may be brought to the exterior, but it is essenti- 
ally the same. And they who tell you that they develop 
mediums, or make or change them, tell you what is wholly 
unsound. It matters not where the teaching comes from. 
Nature and the science of life determine it to be unsound. 

Q. — Are mediums unconscious when entranced? 

A. — Sometimes they are; sometimes they are not. 

Q. — [From the audience.] When a medium is under 
control, does the spirit simply impress the thought upon the 
brain of the medium, to be conveyed in the medium's own 
language, or does the spirit also furnish the words. 

A. — If the control is absolute — perfect in all its parts — 
then not only the ideas are given, but the language; but the 
general rule is, to impress the ideas upon the sensitive 
brain of the medium, and then to excite the vocal organs, 
and they give expression to these ideas. 

Q. — Through this medium, do the spirits use their own 
words, or do they simply give the idea, and leave it for the 
medium to clothe them with words? 

A. — They give not only their ideas, but their words; but 
it should be understood that no spirit can exceed the natural 
faculties or powers of the medium, therefore a Socrates. can 
be so far a Socrates in communicating to you as the medium 
you furnish will allow — no further. 

Q. — Then I should say one medium could not be capable 
of giving correct information from different individuals. 

A. — Not always; the reliability of spiritual manifestations, 
as of all the manifestations of Nature, depends upon proper 
conditions. If these conditions are all that is necessary to 
the evolvement of a perfect truth, you will get it. If they 
are not, you will be likely to get something that is unrelia- 
ble. 

Q. — In controlling this medium do you possess the body, 
as the spirit of the medium possesses it in her normal con- 
dition? 



40 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. 

A. — No, That is not necessary. 1 surround the body. I 
obsess it as the musical performer obsesses the musical in- 
strument. The instrument gives forth no sound unless the 
musician is there and playing upon the instrument; so with 
regard to this control. I surround the subject, and in sur- 
rounding her I create an atmosphere peculiar to myself, 
which is in nearly all respects unlike her own; therefore, 
she finding it not at all in natural harmony with her, gener- 
ally retires, goes forth into the outer spirit-world, and be- 
comes cognizant of scenes in that world. Sometimes it be- 
comes necessary to become thoroughly absorbed in the 
body. Then the mental atmosphere is created within, and 
not without. I act then from within. But in this case I 
act as the musician would act upon the instrument. I sur- 
round the entire body. It is under my perfect control. 

Q. — Then if the spirit of the medium does leave the body 
entirely, how long a time elapses that the body is devoid 
of spirit? 

A. — It may be devoid of intelligence, or conscious ex- 
istence, for a second, hardly more. All things are so nice- 
ly arranged that there will be no intermediate time, or 
scarcely any; yerhaps like the passing of a breath, but noth- 
ing more. I want you to distinctly understand that the 
animal life that is in activity belongs entirely to the animal 
form. That is distinct from intelligence. All the animal 
functions may be performed perfectly and harmoniously 
when there is no intelligence. Of that you are well aware. 
But 1 am speaking now with regard to the amount of time 
that will pass by the spirit here in unconsciousness. I say 
it may be like a passing breath, but a second of time. 

Q. — By A. Crawford, of Memphis, Tenn.: I have no- 
ticed in the "Banner' 1 that the question has been asked, 
4, What becomes of the spirit of Mrs. Conant while other 
spirits are giving messages through her mediumship^ 1 The 
answer has been that her spirit was absent among friends, 
or wherever it was attracted. If that is true, then I have 



OF MEDIUMS AND MEDIUMSHIP. 41 

been and am still laboring under a great mistake regarding 
the nature of the law governing mediumistic control. My 
impression was and is that the spirit never leaves the body 
till death, (so called,) but that the control which is exercised 
over the medium by the spirit, is upon the same principle 
of the control a psychologist exercises upon his subject, viz. 
not by driving the subject's spirit from his body and taking 
possession of that body himself, but by bringing that spirit 
under his control, so that the operator's will, thoughts and 
teelings become the will thoughts and feelings of the sub- 
ject. If I am wrong in these views I should be happy to 
have my error shown to me in a manner that may convince 
me. 

A. — It is very often the case that mediums are controlled 
psychologically; and it is often the case, also, that mediums 
are controlled by the absolute departure of the conscious 
life of the indwelling spirit. But there is not an entire sepa- 
ration. The animal life remains, and all the functions of 
the body are controlled by that animal life. The foreign 
spirit who possesses the organs for the time being, acts up- 
on the nervous system and upon the centre ot that system; 
but always in conjunction with that animal life. There 
have been instances, well authenticated, wherein the spirit 
of the medium has manifested many thousands miles from 
this place — positively manifested as a distinct, tangible in- 
telligence. Again, there have been times when the in- 
dwelling spirit seems to sleep, when a veil of unconscious- 
ness is thrown over it, and it retires from the scenes of outer 
life within itself, and remains in that condition until the 
more positive spirit informs it that it must come again into 
outer earthlife, performing its duties there. Your corre- 
spondent has, in many respects, very correct ideas in regard 
to certain phases of mediumship; but there are as many 
phases as there are conditions and circumstances and medi- 
ums to be acted upon; each one differing from ev^vy other 
one. 



42 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. 

Q. — Are we to understand that this response is from Mrs. 
Conant in a hightened or exalted state, or is it from some 
other, some foreign intelligence? 

A. — It is from him who was called Theodore Parker 
when here, and from no one else. Do not charge upon 
Mrs. Conant or Mr. White or any other Mr. or Mrs., what 
I am alone responsible for. 

Q. — Are we not to understand that in all cases of this 
apparent separation of the spiritual from the material body, 
the spirit is still connected with the material by an electric 
cord, by which it has the power to return? And if that were 
by any chance separated, would not death ensue? In the 
apparent absence of the spiritual body, is not the connection 
with the material body still preserved? 

A. — This is claimed by every returning spirit — always 
held as true. No one has ever told you with truth that 
there is a distinct and positive separation between the spirit 
body and the body natural, except at the hour of death. 
Then that extreme separation takes place, and there is no 
return — not to that body. It is a radical, distinct change, 
but the spirit can go forth at will and wander through uni- 
verses, even while it is attached to the mundane body; but 
the attachment is not severed, for if it were, the body mate- 
rial would come under another phase of law, therefore there 
would be a separation. The spirit does not absolutely sepa- 
rate itself from the body till at death. It may go forth and 
roam over distant worlds, but there is no separation, and 
yet the spirit is just as free while it holds its relation to the 
body as it ever will be. You will all learn this truth sooner 
or later. 

Q. We are to understand that the involuntary action ot 
the animal functions of the human body is kept up? 

A. — Always, certainly. All functional lite is properly 
and harmoniously sustained, otherwise death would ensue. 
There have been many instances upon record where the 
spirit in going off from the body has produced upon it such 



OF MEDIUMS AND MEDIUMSHIP. 43 

a deep and death-like trance, that the friends have supposed 
the body was dead, indeed, where the body has been buried, 
in which case, of course, the separation has been made 
complete. But generally the body is left in a harmonious 
state — generally in a state of animal repose — its functional 
life is not infringed upon, not at all. 

Q. — What are the best means of deepening our inter- 
course with the intelligences of another life? 

A. — They are legion. In the first place a certain kind of 
faith is necessary — not that which lays down reason, but a 
faith that, if you ask, you shall receive. Then, when you 
do receive, seek to analyze what you receive; put it into the 
crucible of reason; see what it is worth, and appropriate it 
for what it is worth; live in harmony with Nature's laws as 
much as possible; do not overtax the brain by overtaxing 
the stomach; do not overtax the stomach by overtaxing the 
brain; keep a well-balanced physical system, if possible. 
They who ask for spiritual food generally receive it sooner 
or later. By asking, I mean you shall send out a desire, 
an earnest, honest desire to know more concerning the 
other life, and the inhabitants of that other life will catch 
the note and will be sure to answer it. 

Q. — Some think the spirit may, under proper conditions, 
so tar leave the body as to associate with disembodied spi- 
rits, and with them decide upon the course it shall pursue 
while in the body; just as a member of a corporation may 
agree with his associates to pursue a particular course when 
he arrives in a specified locality; and that the spirit may. re- 
turn to its body for the purpose of being used by its asso- 
ciate spirits to carry out the designated course, knowing 
that it will then be unconscious of its compact, and possibly 
very much dissatisfied with its condition. Can the controll- 
ing spirit give us any light upon this subject? 

A. — There is a wonderfully beautiful truth underlying this 
subject. That the soul is free to associate with its friends who 
have passed beyond this rude state of matter, is an absolute, 



44 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. 

well demonstrated truth. That it can make or break contracts 
in the other life is also a truth. Now, in the case of every 
medium, every spirit who may desire to take possession 
pro tern, of the physical body, first consults the soul who 
owns or has legitimate control of that body; but a knowl- 
edge of that consultation is not projected into the outer 
senses, therefore the medium in this lite knows nothing 
about it. But nevertheldss this contract is made: Will 
you give me control of your physical life tor so long a time? 
Yes or no? Sometimes the foreign spirit being repulsed, 
controls against the will of the indwelling soul, and then 
there are not' those harmonious conditions that would ensue 
under other conditions — what you would call reliability in 
spiritual manisfestations. 

Q. — If we earnestly desire a -spirit friend to manifest her- 
self in some way, shall we be likely to have a manifestation 
by sitting alone, evenings, quietly? 

A. — Certainl} T not, unless the sitter has the power re- 
quisite for such a manifestation. You might as well expect 
to receive a telegram from Europe without complying with 
the usual means. 

Q. — Does singing help spirit manifestations? 

A. When thou sittestin communion with angels do so reve- 
rently to thy Creator; and the members of thy circle shall 
pray unto Him, or sing songs of praise and glory unto Him 
and His works. Nor shalt thou habit thyself to sit with 
such as do not this reverence to Jehovih. 

Be not long faced or melancholy with doleful songs, but 
rather cheerful like the birds that sing unto their Creator? 
And let thy speech be respectful and relating to spiritual 
things. Learn thou from them of the places they inhabit 
in heaven and the manner of their occupation. [Oahspe.] 

Q. — Do spirits of higher spheres communicate directly 
through an earthly medium? 

A. — Sometimes they communicate directly, but this is not 
often done. They sometimes employ many hundreds of 



OF MEDIUM AND MEDIUMSHIP. 45 

spirit media as intermediates — sometimes not more than 
one — then sometimes they come directly to the earthly 
media. 

Q. — Can spirits in the other world exercise their power 
to make people do wrong? 

A. — They certainly can, and do exercise that power very 
largely. 

Q. — Cannot good spirits also exercise their power to 
make them do right? 

A. — They certainly can; but if the propensity to do wrong 
exists in the subject used, that propensity will be very like- 
ly to attract to itself a similar evil. Therefore the battery 
would be complete and the undeveloped spirit would gain 
perfect control. 

Q. — Will the spirit controlling please inform me what 
causes the raps that the mediums call spirit-raps? 

A. — These raps, or sounds, are electrical concussions. 
They are produced by an aggregation of electrical force, 
and the condensation of that force, by being passed through 
the medium, and again brought in contact with form or 
gross matter. For example: I wish to make a rap, or 
sound, upon this table. I can gather certain electrical 
powers from the atmosphere, or, perhaps, from your differ- 
ent bodies. I shall pass them through the condenser, or 
medium, and then give them out and send them by the 
force of my will upon this table, if I desire to make a rap 
there; upon the ceiling, if I desire to make a rap there. 
When the electricity so sent out meets with the electricity 
residing in the atoms of the object it meets or reaches, then 
a concussion takes place, and the sound reaches your ear. 

Q. — How is it that the letters are not always answered 
correctly? . 

A. — It often happens that the contents have no soul, 
therefor it is not easy to answer such. Again, it often 
happens that those who are called upon to answer letters at 
this place cannot come in rapport with either the subject 



46 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. 

presented or with the medium. It is possible they might 
come and do exceedingly well at a second trial, but it is 
not always possible at the first trial, perhaps not at the 
second or third. There are various obstacles in the way of 
giving perfect answers. And quite as much darkness lies 
upon your side as upon ours. Indeed, ofttimes a great 
deal more. As it was remarked here by the person who 
was in control at the time — a short time since — something 
like this: "Mrs. B. asks, Shall I marry Mr. C.? Mr. C. 
asks, Shall I be successful in this undertaking? Had I bet- 
ter go to Colorado? Shall I be successful in mining opera- 
tions? Shall I abandon this business and take up another?" 
Oh, monstrous idea! and then complain because the spirits 
do not give you satisfactory answers! Nine times out of 
ten they are ashamed to come answering such questions^ 
and decline. 

Note. — The best mediums, to consult, also, are those who talk least 
about themselves, their great exploits, or their mighty controls with 
high sounding names ! Those who quietly and modestly communi- 
cate what intelligence or power they receive, and, when doing good in 
this way, gratefully attribute their success to its rightful source, are 
most worthy of public confidence and support. — [Editor.] 

Q. — Does it always immediately attract the attention of 
a spirit to think earnestly of them? 

A. — Not always immediately. Sometimes the thought 
of the spirit dwelling in an earthly form is taken up and 
carried on through very many distinct spirits before it 
reaches the one you desire it to meet. Sometimes it 
reaches them very direct. 

Q. — If we sincerely and earnestly ask the assistance of 
spirits in works of art, mechanism or study, can we be sure 
of receiving it? 

A. — No; because there are some organisms that they 
cannot aid in that way, while there are others that they can 
aid largely. 

Q. — Do the spirits in their communications ever make 
mistakes? 



OF MEDIUM AND MEDIUMSHIP. 47 

A. — That is a fact apparent to all who have anything 
to do with them. Being fallible, like yourselves, it would 
be very strange if they did not sometimes make mistakes. 

Q. — How then are we to detect the true from the false? 

A. — Just the same as you would detect the true from 
the false here, among yourselves. 

Q. — Can one become clairvoyant during sleep, who is 
not aware of being so during his waking hours? 

A. — It is frequently the case that when the bodily senses 
are hushed in quiet slumber the spiritual perceptions gain 
the ascendency, and one may not only exercise clairvoyant 
and clair-audient but other spiritual powers, of the existence 
of which he is unaware in his waking hours. 

Q. — In sitting for development as a writing medium, 
how often and how long should one sit? And should he sit 
with some one, or alone? 

A. — In sitting for development as a writing medium, one 
should do so about three times per week, from sixty to nine- 
ty minutes at a time. It would be better, perhaps, to have 
a sitting with some harmonious, susceptible friend, one who 
is congenial, and whose magnetism assimilates with that of 
the one desirous of developing medial powers. Early 
morning is a most favorable time, say between six and eight 
o'clock, but if this hour is not convenient, between nine 
and eleven at night will be the next best time for the un- 
foldment of mediumistic powers. 



Rules to be Observed at Spiritual Circles. 

Only sincere earnest seekers after truth are welcome. 

Come then with clean hands, kind hearts and pure 
thoughts. 

Make yourselves attractive to good spirits and they will 
gladly come to you. 

Let them come in their own way. 

Don't demand names the first thing. 

Don't feel that you would like to grab the spirit-forms. 
Such thoughts strike your spirit friends, and drive them 
away. 

Don't be too suspicious or you will be suspected and 
avoided, or deceived. Remember that like attracts like. 

Don't be over-anxious, but wait quietly, patiently, rever- 
ently, and you will get all the evidences of spirit presence 
and identity that it is possible to give you, and in the end 
be abundantly rewarded. 

Note. The above rules were submitted to the guides of W. J. Col- 
ville and fully approved by them. In a subsequent lecture the same 
authority expressly disapproved of sitting for development in miscel- 
laneous companies, or in dark, crowded and ill ventilated apartments, 
as injurious to health and to spiritual growth. 

Small family circles held at regular intervals, in subdued light, at 
stated places, never admitting other than invited guests, were ex- 
presly commended. [Editor.] 

Note. — One of the best kinds of mediumship, is that in which 
higher spirit intelligences, (or the Great Source of all intelligence,) im- 
press ideas, thoughts, and inspiration to act, upon the sensitive mind. 
This kind of mediumship is within the reach of every person. But it 
comes, only, in answer to earnest aspiration, or prayer; and will do 
much for individual as well as for national growth and unfoldment. 

As spirit Faraday says: 

"Only by the power of truthful ideas upon the minds of the race, 
can redemption from evil be secured; and those who contribute to 
this work are the real saviors of mankind." — [Editor.] 



The preceding pages are but the introduction, or sam- 
ple pages, to a larger volume, already prepared and soon to 
be published, if subscriptions shall appear to justify such a 
work. It will contain full questions and answers upon the 
following subjects: 

Angels and Guardian Spirits; Art and Beauty in Spirit Life; 
Astral Lights and Astral Worlds; Art and Science; Aspira- 
tion and Inspiration; Animal Food; Appetites and Senses; 
About the Moon and its Inhabitants; Are there Animals in Spi- 
rit Life; Bibles and their Origin; Compensation in Spirit Life; 
Creator and Creation; Day of Judgment; Capacities of Spirit 
Life; Electricity and Magnetism; Evil Spirits and how to treat 
them; Heaven — Where is it; How Worlds are Made and Gov- 
erned; How other Worlds are Visited by Spirits ; Origin of Man 
and Animals; Origin of Good and Evil; Other Planets — Are 
they Inhabited; Pre-existence of Man; Prayer — What reason 
for it; Rewards and Punishments in Spirit Life; Death and 
Resurrection ; Re-incarnation; Spiritual Growth and Possibili- 
ties; What is Thought; What is Mind; What is Spirit; What is 
the Soul; What is God; Gods and Goddesses; Government of 
the People by the People; Labor and its Compensation; Kings 
and Queens in Spirit Life; Theosophy — What it is; Love and 
Marriage, the True and false; Magic and Necromancy; Materi- 
alization and Etherialization: Missionaries and Miracles; 
Memory in Spirit Life ; Mind Cure and Metaphysicians; Medical 
Prescriptions by Spirits; Marriage on Earth and in Heaven; 
Sects in Heaven; Secret Societies; Sundays and Hollidays; Sui- 
cides and Insane Spirits — how treated; Small Pox and no Vacci- 
nation; Sorcery and Witchcraft; Spirit Photographs, in the 
dark; Travel in Spirit Life; Visits to Other Planets; Woman's 
Rights and Privileges; Woman's Worth and Power. 

One volume — 300 to 400 pages — price $1.25. Orders or 
subscriptions may be addressed to 
Publishers "Coming Age," or to Eaton & Lyon, Publishers 
and Booksellers, 

Grand Rapids, Mich. 



